Oh, the strange things you will discover...

Specifically, the pictures you will find when staying at your childhood home...

A young Stephanie with ping pong ball...

 AND

A young Noah with golf ball.

 Stay tuned...there might be more gems before we head back west :-).

Week 45 & 46 & 10 Months

Before we get to the more recent news, here is a really lousy and quick photo reel from the weeks past...

Noah is drinking coffee now. Of course, I am kidding, but he did get ahold of my mug and pull it down to make a HUGE mess. The only good news, the coffee was cold.

My little skeleton. Would it be weird to have him wear these year-round?

Wine tasting is now a sport. The goal...spill as little as possible while chasing Noah around!

Noah and his California girlfriend, Olivia. We sure do miss her and her mama!

Midwest Bound - Surprise, we're in St. Louis! The whole family packed up (pretty much everything we own) and headed East last week...hence the late blog post. We kept this little vacation a bit of a secret so that we could slow down and just enjoy some quality family time rather than running around like crazy. So far, it has delivered! We are just now starting to fill our schedule with friends and activities and are really happy with how much relaxing we are actually getting to do. 

"I'm ready to go!"

Baby on a plane - We are very fortunate in the fact that Noah has been a great flyer every time we have flown the friendly skies. Luckily, the trend continued and we had one good little baby with us on our flights to St. Louis. We purposely opted for a layover this time around since we now have a walker on our hands and thought he might need to run free en route. We gave ourselves a pat on the back for this decision as he decided napping was absolutely not as fun as watching all the plane activity and we all needed the break. Flying with a mobile 10 month old is definitely more challenging than an infant but he was a trooper and we made it without incident.

No plane pictures so you get this cute little face instead!

Stomp Stomp Stomp - One of Noah's favorite games is to "stomp, stomp, stomp" his little feet. He just started doing it one day so we gave it a name and now he thinks it is quite the entertaining little game! 

Stomping around Grandma and Grandpa's.

Swinging at G&G's. All they had left were pink swings but I think Noah kind of owns it!

The HOME team - We finally got Noah into the sea of Cardinal red where he belongs...Busch Stadium. I am pretty sure he felt right at home with all of the other fans and was a great little fan at the game! Plus, the Cards brought home a W...a good day all around.

See, he even watched the game ;-).

Redbird fans.

Noah looks like he is wearing a toupee.

Grandma got him his very own baseball hat. Pretty darn cute if I do say so myself.

Fredbird is apparently a celebrity these days and we couldn't find him to get a picture with Noah :-(. One of these days we will capture the elusive Bird!

Go Colts - The initial reason behind our trip to St. Louis was my reunion. Scott and I wanted to make a trip this fall and when I got the reunion date we decided that this would be perfect. My thoughts on the reunion...it was better than I expected, a bit awkward at times, Facebook took a fair amount of fun out of it, and by the end of the night it felt like high school again. That sounds negative, but it wasn't! It was really nice to see everyone and I enjoyed catching up with people in person versus over a Facebook wall. 

Rainforest girls circa 1st grade.

Rainforest girls circa 2012. And, yes, those are blue suede pumps and I love them.

Let's be honest...she's my favorite PCHer!

10 Month Details:

I gave up on having the same background for the monthly shots. Heck, I almost gave up all together since these are what they often turn out looking like.

• 

  Usually this is more like it. Click as fast as possible before crazy baby gets a hold of the camera.

• Food - This is something that is not a bit of a problem for our little man. He GOBBLES food. It is really more a problem for me as I need to challenge myself to come up with more healthy and varying meals for him. Starch and cheese does not a well rounded diet make. I have started trying to sneak new foods and hopefully we will have a little guy that likes a lot of foods as he grows up.
• Sleep - Sleep is still going great. Actually, it was going a little too great and we had to shorten naps to a maximum of 3 hours daily or 4:30am becomes wake up time. I will take this problem over a bad sleeper any day, though!
• Teeth - Still two on bottom and one more has broken through on top. It is one of his "vampire" teeth but it looks like there are 3 more primed to make an appearance any minute.
• Stats: Length-27.75 inches, Weights 18lbs. 5oz. 
• Noises - No words yet but he is starting to mimic our sounds more. He is getting a feel for inflection and generally just "talks" more.
• Favorites - Walking, macaroni (any cheese and starch, really), stomping, balls, dancing, other kids, swings...pretty much just a lover of life!
• Not so favorites - Breakfast. Noah just does not like to eat in the morning. Other than that, he really only has not-so-favorites when he is tired. He kind of loses his ability to manage himself and the slightest stumble makes him sad. I guess this happens to all of us, it just happens more times a day when you take two naps ;-).

Why, yes Noah, you absolutely can have anything you want because you are ADORABLE!

Noah News: Week 44

I know, I know...I'm late. My wonderful husband has reminded me of this fact daily (hourly). But, here it is!

Saying Goodbye - Lola's ashes arrived last week. To say receiving her in a tin was very strange is an understatement. BUT, surprisingly I held it together and we were able to take her to her final resting place on Sunday. It was a truly wonderful day and 100% a celebration of her spunky little life.

This was supposed to say, "In Loving Memory"....I kind of like the error...makes me laugh.

A very special place for our little family...Crissy Field.

Scott and Lola (of course there were bubbles to mark the occasion).

Setting her free.

Our favorite little boy enjoyed the Field as well.

May she run forever.

Carnivorous Baby - Scott and I decided to have a little family date night last week. Dining with Noah usually means a complete table rearrange to avoid knives, place mats and wine glasses flying onto the floor.  Our #1 way to keep Noah happy...keep feeding him. The more interesting, the better.

Nothing like a good rib to gnaw on (we might have owned dogs for too long before having a baby!)

Happy Birthday, Scott! -Wednesday we celebrated Scott's birthday in low key fashion. I definitely dropped the ball on his birthday this year. I knew it was coming, ordered presents, but just couldn't pull off anything truly "special" this year. So, this is my public apology and I promise to
rise to the occasion next year!

Noah is not so keen on being held these days!

Best of the bunch.

Not on his birthday, but how cute are these boys in their hats?!

Noah Doolittle - I decided that Noah and I needed a fun outing so we set off for Happy Hollow. This place is kind of amazing...it is playground, petting zoo, real zoo, amusement park, and open space all rolled into one. I was a bit concerned that Noah would be indifferent to the creatures but he actually LOVED them. It was a great day and I see many visits in our future.

Hey, Goat!

What animal is next, Mom?

Haaaaaay, is for horses! This horse kind of wanted to nibble on Noah's little fingers ;-).

 A few "a day in the life" photos to round out the post.

I love him. And he loves this basketball.

Thank you, Gap, for these adorable PJs.

Hot mess. A typical post meal scene at our house.

Noah is a serious help when it comes to cleaning.

Noah has an odd obsession with PSY. He gets transfixed and then will start laughing and dancing. I am pretty sure he doesn't truly know what to think of it. Neither do I!

Noah News: Week 42 & 43

Is it bad that I am counting down weeks to 52? Not so much because I am anxious for Noah to turn 1 (in fact, I would like him to stay 10 months forever!), but because these weekly posts are getting to be a bit of a chore. Noah is constantly on the move and it is pretty much impossible to capture him on camera these days. Between that, and the fact that he isn't flying through developmental milestones (because there aren't as many), I just don't have a lot of material for weekly posts. Once we hit a year I will do Noah updates monthly but, until then, for posterity, I will continue trying to come up with news.

The best picture I could capture of Noah in his cute little matchy outfit.

What 99% of my pictures look like these days.

Happiest baby/mommy combo on the block - I am not sure when it happened but I pretty much feel like a grinning idiot most of the time. I just love spending time with my boy. Even the challenging tasks make me happy (getting ready for bedtime is a bit of a wrestling match, walking around AT&T park trying to make him sleep in the Ergo) because I get to spend time with Noah. Sure, I have my moments where I need a break and I gladly hand him off to Scott but it isn't nearly as desperate or as often as a few months ago. We are just a happy little team bopping around Menlo Park!

Ohhhhhhh, I love him! For the record, before he fell asleep he was giving me little rubs on the back of my arms. Pretty much made me melt.

Milestone, Schmilestone -  I'll admit, I was a NUT about milestones for the first 6 months of Noah's life. I was constantly checking Babycenter, reading every possible piece of baby information I could get my hands on, sizing Noah up with other babies at play dates...you get the idea. All of a sudden, I could just care less. Maybe it is because he is walking already but I just.don't.care about when he should say "Mama" and "Dada" or if he is a month or four late pointing. He is constantly learning new things (I mean, saying "Baba, night night" pretty much sends the kid running for the bedroom) and makes me laugh every day at what he understands and how is truly trying to learn. So, the way I figure it, we will go about our happy little life (see above) and he will likely go to high school being able to point and clap!

Hey, Babycenter, at what age should your son figure out the dog door?!

Breakfast of Champions - We found it. After months of trying every breakfast food we could think of (I even broke out the syrup to try and convince Noah to ingest something before morning nap) we have finally discovered the ONE breakfast food Noah will eat. A bagel with cream cheese. Apparently every meal must be associated with some sort of cheese in order for Noah to consider it. A man after my own heart. 

A little pre-game reading at AT&T.

Got Milk? - Have I mentioned that I have the best son in the world? Well, maybe not in those exact words but I am pretty sure you probably get the picture that this is how I feel. Noah took to breastfeeding with very few issues; switched to formula with no complaints; and sucked down his first bottle of real milk today like it was gold. Thank you milk Gods as I know this is a battle for many families. 

Noah loves to watch the backyard (and inadvertently trap Arnold out there). The days the gardeners come are extra special.

Cock-a-doodle-do - I don't what kind of roosters you have, but mine says, "YA YA YA YA" (sounds like yeah, or yia...not yay) at 4:30 AM. Yes, this is completely unacceptable so we are working on solutions to this little riser-before-the-sunner. What we have discovered is that he naps too well. I know, really terrible problems over here ;-). The real kicker is that I need to shorten his morning nap...BUT, it is MY time and I really don't want to :-(. I also don't want to wake up at 4:30 in the morning so I guess I have to give up some interneting in favor of the greater good. 

Car snoozing. A rarity in these parts since we all I really like nap time at home!

Humpty Dumpty Had a Great Fall - I am waiting for a visit from CPS. My poor son constantly has bruises on his head. As soon as the latest egg/bruise begins to fade he conks his head somewhere else (or often, the same spot). Most of the time they come from crawling under furniture and then trying to get up right at the edge, tripping while tearing through the house, or rolling off a pillow (on the ground) onto the hard ground (he likes to burrow/nuzzle when he is tired). So, no serious injuries, just enough of a bump on a regular basis to keep him looking like he just went round and round with Muhammad Ali (thankfully, no cauliflower ears here though!). 

Exhibit A: Bruise on one side of head (but LOOK at those eyelashes).

Exhibit B: Bruise on other side of head (this fall was a little nastier and involved the side of the coffee table and a slip on drool-seriously, you can't baby proof them from their own drool!)

As you can see, we aren't dealing with major updates around here. Noah is constantly on the go...pretty much running around at this point. He is ever smiley and seriously just makes me want to scoop him up for hugs and snuggles all day long. I don't know how it gets better than this but I guess I will get to find out.